JOSEPH SMITH—HISTORY
Joseph Smith tells of his ancestry, family members, and their early
abodes—An unusual excitement about religion prevails in western
New York—He determines to seek wisdom as directed by James—The
Father and the Son appear and Joseph is called to his prophetic ministry.
(Verses 1-20.)
OWING to the many reports which have been put in circulation by evil-disposed
and designing persons, in relation to the rise and progress of the Church
of Jesus Christ of aLatter-day Saints, all of which have been designed
by the authors thereof to militate against its character as a Church
and its progress in the world—I have been induced to write this
history, to disabuse the public mind, and put all inquirers after truth
in possession of the bfacts•, as they have transpired, in relation
both to myself and the Church, so far as I have such facts in my possession.
In this history I shall present the various events in
relation to this Church, in truth and righteousness, as they have transpired,
or as they at present exist, being now [1838] the aeighth• byear•
since the organization of the said Church.
I was born in the year of our Lord one thousand eight
hundred and five, on the twenty-third day of December, in the town of
Sharon, Windsor county, State of Vermont . . . My father, bJoseph•
Smith, Sen., left the State of Vermont, and moved to Palmyra, Ontario
(now Wayne) county, in the State of New York, when I was in my tenth
year, or thereabouts. In about four years after my father’s arrival
in Palmyra, he moved with his family into Manchester in the same county
of Ontario—
His family consisting of eleven souls, namely, my father,
Joseph Smith; my amother•, Lucy Smith (whose name, previous to
her marriage, was Mack, daughter of Solomon Mack); my brothers, bAlvin•
(who died November 19th, 1823, in the 26th year of his age), cHyrum•,
myself, dSamuel• Harrison, William, Don Carlos; and my sisters,
Sophronia, Catherine, and Lucy.
Some time in the second year after our removal to Manchester,
there was in the place where we lived an unusual excitement on the subject
of religion. It commenced with the Methodists, but soon became general
among all the sects in that region of country. Indeed, the whole district
of country seemed affected by it, and great multitudes united themselves
to the different religious parties, which created no small stir and
division amongst the people, some crying, “aLo•, here!”
and others, “Lo, there!” Some were contending for the Methodist
faith, some for the Presbyterian, and some for the Baptist.
For, notwithstanding the great alove• which the
converts to these different faiths expressed at the time of their conversion,
and the great zeal manifested by the respective clergy, who were active
in getting up and promoting this extraordinary scene of religious feeling,
in order to have everybody converted, as they were pleased to call it,
let them join what sect they pleased; yet when the converts began to
file off, some to one party and some to another, it was seen that the
seemingly good feelings of both the priests and the converts were more
bpretended than real; for a scene of great confusion and bad feeling
ensued—priest contending against priest, and convert against convert;
so that all their good feelings one for another, if they ever had any,
were entirely lost in a strife of words and a contest about opinions.
I was at this time in my fifteenth year. My father’s
family was proselyted to the Presbyterian faith, and four of them joined
that church, namely, my mother, Lucy; my brothers Hyrum and Samuel Harrison;
and my sister Sophronia.
During this time of great excitement my mind was called
up to serious reflection and great uneasiness; but though my feelings
were deep and often poignant, still I kept myself aloof from all these
parties, though I attended their several meetings as often as occasion
would permit. In process of time my mind became somewhat partial to
the Methodist sect, and I felt some desire to be united with them; but
so great were the confusion and astrife among the different denominations,
that it was impossible for a person young as I was, and so unacquainted
with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who was bright•
and who was wrong.
My mind at times was greatly excited, the cry and tumult
were so great and incessant. The Presbyterians were most decided against
the Baptists and Methodists, and used all the powers of both reason
and sophistry to prove their errors, or, at least, to make the people
think they were in error. On the other hand, the Baptists and Methodists
in their turn were equally zealous in endeavoring to establish their
own tenets and disprove all others.
In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions,
I often said to myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties
are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be aright,
which is it, and how shall I know it?
While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused
by the contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading
the Epistle of aJames•, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads:
If any of you lack bwisdom•, let him ask of God, that giveth to
all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
Never did any passage of ascripture• come with more
power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed
to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected
on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed bwisdom from
God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more
wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion
of the different sects cunderstood• the same passages of scripture
so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question
by an appeal to the Bible.
At length I came to the conclusion that I must either
remain in adarkness• and confusion, or else I must do as James
directs, that is, ask of God. I at length came to the determination
to “ask of God,” concluding that if he gave wisdom to them
that lacked wisdom, and would bgive liberally, and not upbraid, I might
venture.
So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of
God, I retired to the awoods• to make the attempt. It was on the
morning of a bbeautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen
hundred and twenty. It was the first time in my life that I had made
such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made
the attempt to cpray dvocally•.
After I had retired to the place where I had previously
designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I
kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I
had scarcely done so, when immediately I was aseized• upon by
some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence
over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick bdarkness•
gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed
to sudden destruction.
But, exerting all my powers to acall• upon God to
deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me,
and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into bdespair•
and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but
to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such
marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at
this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of clight• exactly
over my head, above the brightness of the dsun•, which descended
gradually until it fell upon me.
It no sooner appeared than I found myself adelivered from
the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I bsaw
two cPersonages•, whose brightness and dglory defy all description,
estanding• above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling
me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My fBeloved•
gSon. Hear Him!
My object in going to ainquire• of the Lord was
to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to
join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to
be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in
the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had
never entered into my heart that all were wrong)—and which I should
join.
I was answered that I must join none of them, for they
were all awrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their
creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those bprofessors•
were all ccorrupt; that: “they ddraw• near to me with their
lips, but their ehearts• are far from me, they teach for doctrines
the fcommandments• of men, having a form of godliness, but they
deny the gpower• thereof.”
He again forbade me to join with any of them; and many
other things did he say unto me, which I cannot write at this time.
When I came to myself again, I found myself alying• on my back,
looking up into heaven. When the light had departed, I had no strength;
but soon recovering in some degree, I went home. And as I leaned up
to the fireplace, bmother• inquired what the matter was. I replied,
“Never mind, all is well—I am well enough off.” I
then said to my mother, “I have learned for myself that Presbyterianism
is not true.” It seems as though the cadversary was aware, at
a very early period of my life, that I was destined to prove a disturber
and an annoyer of his kingdom; else why should the powers of darkness
combine against me? Why the dopposition• and persecution that
arose against me, almost in my infancy?
Some preachers and other professors of religion reject
account of First Vision—Persecution heaped upon Joseph Smith—He
testifies of the reality of the vision. (Verses 21-26.)
Some few days after I had this vision, I happened to be
in company with one of the Methodist preachers, who was very active
in the before mentioned religious excitement; and, conversing with him
on the subject of religion, I took occasion to give him an account of
the vision which I had had. I was greatly surprised at his behavior;
he treated my communication not only lightly, but with great contempt,
saying it was all of the devil, that there were no such things as avisions•
or brevelations in these days; that all such things had ceased with
the apostles, and that there would never be any more of them.
I soon found, however, that my telling the story had excited
a great deal of prejudice against me among professors of religion, and
was the cause of great apersecution•, which continued to increase;
and though I was an bobscure• boy, only between fourteen and fifteen
years of age, and my circumstances in life such as to make a boy of
no consequence in the world, yet men of high standing would take notice
sufficient to excite the public mind against me, and create a bitter
persecution; and this was common among all the sects—all united
to persecute me.
It caused me serious reflection then, and often has since,
how very strange it was that an obscure aboy•, of a little over
fourteen years of age, and one, too, who was doomed to the necessity
of obtaining a scanty maintenance by his daily blabor, should be thought
a character of sufficient importance to attract the attention of the
great ones of the most popular sects of the day, and in a manner to
create in them a spirit of the most bitter cpersecution• and dreviling.
But strange or not, so it was, and it was often the cause of great sorrow
to myself.
However, it was nevertheless a fact that I had beheld
a avision•. I have thought since, that I felt much like Paul,
when he made his defense before King Agrippa, and related the account
of the vision he had when he saw a light, and heard a voice; but still
there were but few who believed him; some said he was dishonest, others
said he was bmad•; and he was ridiculed and reviled. But all this
did not destroy the reality of his vision. He had seen a vision, he
knew he had, and all the cpersecution• under heaven could not
make it otherwise; and though they should persecute him unto death,
yet he knew, and would know to his latest breath, that he had both seen
a light and heard a voice speaking unto him, and all the world could
not make him think or believe otherwise.
So it was with me. I had actually seen a light, and in
the midst of that light I saw two aPersonages•, and they did in
reality speak to me; and though I was bhated and cpersecuted for saying
that I had seen a vision, yet it was true; and while they were persecuting
me, reviling me, and speaking all manner of evil against me dfalsely
for so saying, I was led to say in my heart: Why persecute me for telling
the truth? I have actually seen a vision; and who am I that I can withstand
God, or why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually
seen? For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it,
and I could not edeny it, neither dared I do it; at least I knew that
by so doing I would offend God, and come under condemnation.
I had now got my mind satisfied so far as the sectarian
world was concerned—that it was not my duty to join with any of
them, but to continue as I was until further adirected•. I had
found the testimony of James to be true—that a man who lacked
wisdom might ask of God, and obtain, and not be bupbraided•.
Moroni appears to Joseph Smith—Joseph’s name
is to be known for good and evil among all nations—Moroni tells
him of the Book of Mormon and of the coming judgments of the Lord, and
quotes many scriptures—The hiding place of the gold plates is
revealed—Moroni continues to instruct the Prophet. (Verses 27-54.)
I continued to pursue my common vocations in life until
the twenty-first of September, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-three,
all the time suffering severe persecution at the hands of all classes
of men, both religious and irreligious, because I continued to aaffirm•
that I had seen a vision.
During the space of time which intervened between the
time I had the vision and the year eighteen hundred and twenty-three—having
been forbidden to join any of the religious sects of the day, and being
of very tender years, and persecuted by those who ought to have been
my afriends and to have treated me kindly, and if they supposed me to
be deluded to have endeavored in a proper and affectionate manner to
have reclaimed me—I was left to all kinds of btemptations; and,
mingling with all kinds of society, I frequently fell into many foolish
cerrors•, and displayed the weakness of youth, and the foibles
of human nature; which, I am sorry to say, led me into divers temptations,
offensive in the sight of God. In making this confession, no one need
suppose me guilty of any great or malignant sins. A disposition to commit
such was never in my nature. But I was guilty of dlevity, and sometimes
associated with jovial company, etc., not consistent with that character
which ought to be maintained by one who was ecalled of God as I had
been. But this will not seem very strange to any one who recollects
my youth, and is acquainted with my native fcheery temperament.
In consequence of these things, I often felt condemned
for my weakness and imperfections; when, on the evening of the above-mentioned
twenty-first of September, after I had retired to my bed for the night,
I betook myself to aprayer and supplication to Almighty God for forgiveness
of all my sins and follies, and also for a manifestation to me, that
I might know of my state and standing before him; for I had full bconfidence•
in obtaining a divine manifestation, as I previously had one.
While I was thus in the act of calling upon God, I discovered
a alight• appearing in my room, which continued to increase until
the room was lighter than at noonday, when immediately a bpersonage
appeared at my bedside, standing in the air, for his feet did not touch
the floor.
31 He had on a loose robe of most exquisite awhiteness•.
It was a whiteness beyond anything earthly I had ever seen; nor do I
believe that any earthly thing could be made to appear so exceedingly
white and brilliant. His hands were naked, and his arms also, a little
above the wrist; so, also, were his feet naked, as were his legs, a
little above the ankles. His head and neck were also bare. I could discover
that he had no other clothing on but this robe, as it was open, so that
I could see into his bosom.
Not only was his robe exceedingly white, but his whole
person was aglorious beyond description, and his countenance truly like
blightning•. The room was exceedingly light, but not so very bright
as immediately around his person. When I first looked upon him, I was
cafraid•; but the dfear• soon left me.
He called me by aname•, and said unto me that he
was a bmessenger• sent from the presence of God to me, and that
his name was Moroni; that God had a work for me to do; and that my name
should be had for cgood• and evil among all nations, kindreds,
and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among
all people.
He said there was a abook deposited, written upon gold
plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent,
and the source from whence they sprang. He also said that the bfulness•
of the everlasting Gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the Savior
to the ancient inhabitants;
Also, that there were two stones in silver bows—and
these stones, fastened to a abreastplate•, constituted what is
called the bUrim• and Thummim—deposited with the plates;
and the possession and use of these stones were what constituted “cseers•”
in ancient or former times; and that God had prepared them for the purpose
of translating the book.
After telling me these things, he commenced quoting the
prophecies of the Old Testament. He first quoted part of the third chapter
of aMalachi•; and he quoted also the fourth or last chapter of
the same prophecy, though with a little variation from the way it reads
in our Bibles. Instead of quoting the first verse as it reads in our
books, he quoted it thus:
For behold, the aday cometh that shall bburn• as
an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall burn
as cstubble•; for they that come shall burn them, saith the Lord
of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
38 And again, he quoted the fifth verse thus: Behold,
I will reveal unto you the aPriesthood, by the hand of bElijah•
the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the
cLord.
He also quoted the next verse differently: And he shall
plant in the hearts of the achildren the bpromises• made to the
fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers.
If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.
In addition to these, he quoted the eleventh chapter of
aIsaiah•, saying that it was about to be fulfilled. He quoted
also the third chapter of Acts, twenty-second and twenty-third verses,
precisely as they stand in our New Testament. He said that that bprophet•
was Christ; but the day had not yet come when “they who would
not hear his voice should be ccut• off from among the people,”
but soon would come.
He also quoted the second chapter of aJoel•, from
the twenty-eighth verse to the last. He also said that this was not
yet fulfilled, but was soon to be. And he further stated that the fulness
of the bGentiles• was soon to come in. He quoted many other passages
of scripture, and offered many explanations which ccannot• be
mentioned here.
Again, he told me, that when I got those plates of which
he had spoken—for the time that they should be obtained was not
yet fulfilled—I should not show them to any person; neither the
breastplate with the Urim and Thummim; only to those to whom I should
be commanded to show them; if I did I should be adestroyed•. While
he was conversing with me about the plates, the vision was opened to
my bmind that I could see the place where the plates were deposited,
and that so clearly and distinctly that I knew the place again when
I visited it.
After this communication, I saw the light in the room
begin to gather immediately around the person of him who had been speaking
to me, and it continued to do so until the room was again left dark,
except just around him; when, instantly I saw, as it were, a conduit
open right up into heaven, and he aascended• till he entirely
disappeared, and the room was left as it had been before this heavenly
light had made its appearance.
I lay musing on the singularity of the scene, and marveling
greatly at what had been told to me by this extraordinary messenger;
when, in the midst of my ameditation•, I suddenly discovered that
my room was again beginning to get lighted, and in an instant, as it
were, the same heavenly messenger was again by my bedside.
He commenced, and aagain• related the very same
things which he had done at his first visit, without the least variation;
which having done, he informed me of great bjudgments which were coming
upon the earth, with great desolations by cfamine, dsword•, and
pestilence; and that these grievous judgments would come on the earth
in this generation. Having related these things, he again ascended as
he had done before.
By this time, so deep were the impressions made on my
mind, that sleep had fled from my eyes, and I lay overwhelmed in aastonishment•
at what I had both seen and heard. But what was my surprise when again
I beheld the same messenger at my bedside, and heard him rehearse or
repeat over again to me the same things as before; and added a caution
to me, telling me that Satan would try to btempt me (in consequence
of the indigent circumstances of my father’s family), to get the
plates for the purpose of getting crich. This he forbade me, saying
that I must have no other object in view in getting the plates but to
glorify God, and must not be influenced by any other dmotive•
than that of building his kingdom; otherwise I could not get them.
After this third visit, he again ascended into heaven
as before, and I was again left to aponder on the strangeness of what
I had just experienced; when almost immediately after the heavenly messenger
had ascended from me for the third time, the cock crowed, and I found
that day was approaching, so that our interviews must have occupied
the whole of that night.
I shortly after arose from my bed, and, as usual, went
to the necessary labors of the day; but, in attempting to work as at
other times, I found my astrength so exhausted as to render me entirely
unable. My father, who was laboring along with me, discovered something
to be wrong with me, and told me to go home. I started with the intention
of going to the house; but, in attempting to cross the fence out of
the field where we were, my strength entirely failed me, and I bfell•
helpless on the ground, and for a time was quite unconscious of anything.
The first thing that I can recollect was a voice speaking
unto me, calling me by name. I looked up, and beheld the same messenger
standing over my head, surrounded by light as before. He then again
related unto me all that he had related to me the previous night, and
commanded me to go to my afather and tell him of the vision and commandments
which I had received.
I obeyed; I returned to my afather in the field, and rehearsed
the whole matter to him. He breplied to me that it was of God, and told
me to go and do as commanded by the messenger. I left the field, and
went to the place where the messenger had told me the plates were deposited;
and owing to the distinctness of the vision which I had had concerning
it, I knew the place the instant that I arrived there.
Convenient to the village of Manchester, Ontario county,
New York, stands a ahill• of considerable size, and the most elevated
of any in the neighborhood. On the west side of this hill, not far from
the top, under a stone of considerable size, lay the plates, deposited
in a stone box. This stone was thick and rounding in the middle on the
upper side, and thinner towards the edges, so that the middle part of
it was visible above the ground, but the edge all around was covered
with earth.
Having removed the earth, I obtained a lever, which I
got fixed under the edge of the stone, and with a little exertion raised
it up. I looked in, and there indeed did I behold the aplates•,
the bUrim and Thummim, and the breastplate, as stated by the messenger.
The box in which they lay was formed by laying stones together in some
kind of cement. In the bottom of the box were laid two stones crossways
of the box, and on these stones lay the plates and the other things
with them.
I made an attempt to take them out, but was forbidden
by the messenger, and was again informed that the time for bringing
them forth had not yet arrived, neither would it, until four years from
that time; but he told me that I should come to that place precisely
in one year from that time, and that he would there meet with me, and
that I should continue to do so until the time should come for obtaining
the plates.
Accordingly, as I had been commanded, I went at the end
of each year, and at each time I found the same messenger there, and
received instruction and intelligence from him at each of our interviews,
respecting what the Lord was going to do, and how and in what manner
his akingdom was to be conducted in the last days.
Joseph Smith marries Emma Hale—He receives the gold
plates from Moroni and translates some of the characters—Martin
Harris shows characters and translation to Professor Anthon, who says:
“I cannot read a sealed book.” (Verses 55-65.)
As my father’s worldly circumstances were very limited,
we were under the necessity of alaboring with our hands, hiring out
by day’s work and otherwise, as we could get opportunity. Sometimes
we were at home, and sometimes abroad, and by continuous blabor were
enabled to get a comfortable maintenance.
In the year 1823 my father’s family met with a great
aaffliction by the death of my eldest brother, bAlvin•. In the
month of October, 1825, I hired with an old gentleman by the name of
Josiah Stoal, who lived in Chenango county, State of New York. He had
heard something of a silver mine having been opened by the Spaniards
in Harmony, Susquehanna county, State of Pennsylvania; and had, previous
to my hiring to him, been digging, in order, if possible, to discover
the mine. After I went to live with him, he took me, with the rest of
his hands, to dig for the silver mine, at which I continued to work
for nearly a month, without success in our undertaking, and finally
I prevailed with the old gentleman to cease digging after it. Hence
arose the very prevalent story of my having been a money-digger.
During the time that I was thus employed, I was put to
board with a Mr. Isaac Hale, of that place; it was there I first saw
my wife (his daughter), Emma Hale. On the 18th of January, 1827, we
were married, while I was yet employed in the service of Mr. Stoal.
Owing to my continuing to assert that I had seen a vision,
apersecution still followed me, and my wife’s father’s family
were very much opposed to our being married. I was, therefore, under
the necessity of taking her elsewhere; so we went and were married at
the house of Squire Tarbill, in South Bainbridge, Chenango county, New
York. Immediately after my marriage, I left Mr. Stoal’s, and went
to my father’s, and bfarmed with him that season.
At length the time arrived for obtaining the plates, the
Urim and Thummim, and the breastplate. On the twenty-second day of September,
one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven, having gone as usual at
the end of another year to the place where they were deposited, the
same heavenly messenger delivered them up to ame• with this charge:
that I should be bresponsible for them; that if I should let them go
carelessly, or through any cneglect• of mine, I should be cut
off; but that if I would use all my endeavors to dpreserve them, until
he, the messenger, should call for them, they should be protected.
I soon found out the reason why I had received such strict
charges to keep them safe, and why it was that the messenger had said
that when I had done what was required at my hand, he would call for
them. For no sooner was it known that I had them, than the most strenuous
exertions were used to aget them from me. Every stratagem that could
be invented was resorted to for that purpose. The persecution became
more bitter and severe than before, and multitudes were on the alert
continually to get them from me if possible. But by the wisdom of God,
they remained safe in my hands, until I had accomplished by them what
was required at my hand. When, according to arrangements, the messenger
called for them, I delivered them up to him; and he has them in his
charge until this bday•, being the second day of May, one thousand
eight hundred and thirty-eight.
The excitement, however, still continued, and rumor with
her thousand tongues was all the time employed in circulating afalsehoods
about my father’s family, and about myself. If I were to relate
a thousandth part of them, it would fill up volumes. The persecution,
however, became so intolerable that I was under the necessity of leaving
Manchester, and going with my wife to Susquehanna county, in the State
of Pennsylvania. While preparing to start—being very poor, and
the persecution so heavy upon us that there was no probability that
we would ever be otherwise—in the midst of our afflictions we
found a friend in a gentleman by the name of bMartin• Harris,
who came to us and gave me fifty dollars to assist us on our journey.
Mr. Harris was a resident of Palmyra township, Wayne county, in the
State of New York, and a farmer of respectability.
By this timely aid was I enabled to reach the place of
my destination in Pennsylvania; and immediately after my arrival there
I commenced copying the characters off the plates. I copied a considerable
number of them, and by means of the aUrim and Thummim I translated some
of them, which I did between the time I arrived at the house of my wife’s
father, in the month of December, and the February following.
Sometime in this month of February, the aforementioned
Mr. Martin Harris came to our place, got the characters which I had
drawn off the plates, and started with them to the city of New York.
For what took place relative to him and the characters, I refer to his
own account of the circumstances, as he related them to me after his
return, which was as follows:
“I went to the city of New York, and presented the
characters which had been translated, with the translation thereof,
to Professor Charles Anthon, a gentleman celebrated for his literary
attainments. Professor Anthon stated that the translation was correct,
more so than any he had before seen translated from the Egyptian. I
then showed him those which were not yet translated, and he said that
they were Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac, and Arabic; and he said they
were true characters. He gave me a certificate, certifying to the people
of Palmyra that they were true characters, and that the translation
of such of them as had been translated was also correct. I took the
certificate and put it into my pocket, and was just leaving the house,
when Mr. Anthon called me back, and asked me how the young man found
out that there were gold plates in the place where he found them. I
answered that an angel of God had revealed it unto him.
“He then said to me, ‘Let me see that certificate.’
I accordingly took it out of my pocket and gave it to him, when he took
it and tore it to pieces, saying that there was no such thing now as
ministering of aangels, and that if I would bring the plates to him
he would translate them. I informed him that part of the plates were
bsealed•, and that I was forbidden to bring them. He replied,
‘I cannot read a sealed book.’ I left him and went to Dr.
Mitchell, who sanctioned what Professor Anthon had said respecting both
the characters and the translation.”
Oliver Cowdery serves as scribe in translating the Book
of Mormon—Joseph and Oliver receive the Aaronic Priesthood from
John the Baptist—They are baptized, ordained, and receive the
spirit of prophecy. (Verses 66-75.)
On the 5th day of April, 1829, aOliver• Cowdery came to my house,
until which time I had never seen him. He stated to me that having been
teaching school in the neighborhood where my father resided, and my
father being one of those who sent to the school, he went to board for
a season at his house, and while there the family related to him the
circumstances of my having received the plates, and accordingly he had
come to make inquiries of me.
Two days after the arrival of Mr. Cowdery (being the 7th
of April) I commenced to translate the Book of Mormon, and he began
to awrite• for me.
We still continued the work of translation, when, in the
ensuing month (May, 1829), we on a certain day went into the woods to
pray and inquire of the Lord respecting abaptism for the bremission
of sins, that we found mentioned in the translation of the plates. While
we were thus employed, praying and calling upon the Lord, a messenger
from heaven descended in a ccloud• of light, and having laid his
dhands• upon us, he eordained us, saying:
Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah, I
confer the aPriesthood of bAaron, which holds the keys of the ministering
of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of cbaptism by immersion
for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from
the earth until the sons of dLevi• do offer again an offering
unto the Lord in erighteousness.
He said this Aaronic Priesthood had not the power of laying
on hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, but that this should be conferred
on us hereafter; and he commanded us to go and be baptized, and gave
us directions that I should baptize Oliver Cowdery, and that afterwards
he should baptize me.
Accordingly we went and were baptized. I abaptized•
him first, and afterwards he baptized me—after which I laid my
hands upon his head and ordained him to the Aaronic Priesthood, and
afterwards he laid his hands on me and ordained me to the same Priesthood—for
so we were commanded.*
The amessenger• who visited us on this occasion
and conferred this Priesthood upon us, said that his name was John,
the same that is called bJohn• the Baptist in the New Testament,
and that he acted under the direction of cPeter•, James and John,
who held the keys of the Priesthood of Melchizedek, which Priesthood,
he said, would in due time be conferred on us, and that I should be
called the first dElder of the Church, and he (Oliver Cowdery) the second.
It was on the fifteenth day of May, 1829, that we were ordained under
the hand of this messenger, and baptized.
Immediately on our coming up out of the water after we
had been baptized, we experienced great and glorious blessings from
our Heavenly Father. No sooner had I baptized Oliver Cowdery, than the
Holy Ghost fell upon him, and he stood up and aprophesied many things
which should shortly come to pass. And again, so soon as I had been
baptized by him, I also had the spirit of prophecy, when, standing up,
I prophesied concerning the rise of this Church, and many other things
connected with the Church, and this generation of the children of men.
We were filled with the Holy Ghost, and rejoiced in the God of our salvation.
Our minds being now enlightened, we began to have the
ascriptures• laid open to our understandings, and the btrue•
meaning and intention of their more cmysterious passages revealed unto
us in a manner which we never could attain to previously, nor ever before
had thought of. In the meantime we were forced to keep secret the circumstances
of having received the Priesthood and our having been baptized, owing
to a spirit of persecution which had already manifested itself in the
neighborhood.
We had been threatened with being mobbed, from time to
time, and this, too, by professors of religion. And their intentions
of mobbing us were only counteracted by the influence of my wife’s
father’s family (under Divine providence), who had become very
afriendly to me, and who were opposed to mobs, and were willing that
I should be allowed to continue the work of translation without interruption;
and therefore offered and promised us protection from all unlawful proceedings,
as far as in them lay.
All Lines of Angels